Automatically-filling fountain pen



Nov. 3 1925- E R. s. A. aosuzn AUTOMATICALLY FILLING FOUNTAIN PB FiledD00. 11. 1924 a NW3;

. fibre/770xb 566? fibis/er Patented Nov. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNST RICHARD GUSTAV ALBERT RijSLER, O'FHAMBURG, GERMANY, A'SSIGNOR TO THE FIRM 0F SIMPLO FULLFEDER-GESELLSGHAETVOSS, LAUSEN & DZIAMBOR, OF

HAMBURG, GERMANY.

AUTOMATICALLY -FILLING FOUNTAIN PEN.

Application filed December 11, 1924. Serial No. 755,292.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ennsr Rronann GUs- 'rav ALBERT Bosnian, a citizen ofGermany, residing at Hamburg, Germany, have in vented certain new anduseful Improvements in an Automatically-Filling Fountain Pen (for whichI have filed application in Germany partly on Get. 19, 1923, and partlyon January 18, 1924), of which the following is a specification.

Automatically filling fountain pens having pistons slidable within thefountain are known which operate in such manner, that at first thepiston is moved outwardly, then the opening of the fountain pen isdipped into the ink, and then the piston is again pressed back into theholder, whereupon shortly before the lower end position is arrived asudden sucking up of the ink takes place. Such fountain pens are soconstructed that the piston for the greater part of its stroke closelyfits in the fountain within the holder, the fountain being slightlywidened at the end of the stroke shortly before the piston has beenfully moved inwardly. The consequence is, that, when the piston is againpressed inwardly after the first pulling out,;a vacuum is created behindthe piston, thus as soon as the piston arrives at the widened part ofthe fountain the ink is sucked inwardly round about the piston. Suchfountain pens have on the one hand the drawback, that the piston inmoving from the expanded part of the fountain into the narrower partpasses a shoulder, which by and by causes a wearing away of the surfaceof the piston and thus impairs the good fit. On the other hand there isthe drawback, that, when the ink of the previous charge is not fullyused up, owing to an untimely recharging or filling, the ink, which isstill behind the piston, will be pressed out at the hinderend of thefountain pen, between the piston rod and its packing, when thepreparatory pulling out of the piston rod is carried out.

The object of the present invention is to construct an improved fountainpen the operationof which is the same as described, that is to say thatit is filled in this manner that the piston preparatory to the fillingis first pulled out and then again pressed in wardly, so that behind ita vacuum is created and that thereupon when the piston arrives at theend of its stroke the ink will pass in the space behind the piston bythe sucking action of the vacuum, The construction of the new improvedfountain pen is such that the drawbacks adhering to the shoulder on theinside wall of the fountain in the known fountain pens are removed, asqueezing out of the ink in pulling out the piston owing to an untimelyfilling is fully prevented, and moreover there is the advantage that theholder need not be dipped into the ink until the piston is fully pushedinwardly.

The construction of the new fountain pen is similar to another knownfountain pen,

which however operates in a different manner, and in which a piston isused, which to a limited extent is shiftable on its rod and is providedwith an escape passage and movable between two stops on the piston rod.In the known fountain pens of this description the upper stop, that isto say the stop next to the end of the fountain pen, is formed by abroad perforated disk, while the lower stop consists of a disk, whichclosely fits by its edge the piston rim when pulling out the piston.These fountain pens however operate in this manner, that the piston hasa sucking action in beingvpulled out, and when again pushed inwardlyclears the passage owing to the shifting towards the end of thefountain. pen, so that the in{ wardly sucked ink can pass behind thepiston through the passage and the upper perforated stop disk. However,even this arrangement has the drawback, that on an untimely filling, inkthat might be left to remain behind the piston, will be squeezed out atthe end of the fountain pen.

According to the present invention the fountain pen. is also providedwith a piston, which is movable to a limited extent on its rod andprovided with an escape passage; however, of the stops on the piston rodlimiting the movement of the piston only the upper one, that is to saythe one arranged next to the end of the fountain pen, closes the escapepassage on contacting with the piston, while the lower one arrangednearer to the nib of the pen always clears the passage. By thisdifferentiating feature with regard to the second type described abovethe result will be obtained, that the operation of the new fountain penwill be similar to that of thefir-st described type of fountain pens,while thedrawbacks of these are removed.

In the drawings a mode of construction of the invention is shown.

Fig. '1 is a partial longitudinal section of a fountain pen, and

Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectionof the p ston to a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is a sectiondrawnto the line 3: of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section drawn to the line C r-i of :Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section drawn to the hne '55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6-is a longitudinal section of a modification of the fountain pen,and

Fig. 7 is a cross sectiondrawn to the line 7 7 of F ig. 6.

lVithin the handle body 1 forming the fountain :a piston 2 is movableand to a limited extent slidable on the rod 3 carrying at its loweren'dfor this purpose a disk 5 covered with a packing washer 4:. A stud 6carryinga shoulder 7 is screwed into the said disk for holding thewasher st in its plate, while .on its other end the stud is providedwith two segmentalstops'S. The disk 5 and the stops 8 serve forlimitingthe movement ofthe piston 2, which is formed annular and has an opening9, which is not perfectly filled up by the stud 6 that is flattened onboth sides. At its upper side the piston is provided with an annular ribor flange 10, adapted to make tight fit with the packing washer 4 in theupper position of the piston. On one part of its circumference thepiston is provided with a leather collar 11 projecting below its lowerface and attached therein by a nut 12. The upper end of the piston rod'3 passes through a screw plug 13 screwed into the upper end of thefountain 1, within which the piston rod is packed by cork or similarstuffing material 13 A head 14 is mounted on the end of the rod 3, andbetween this head 14 and a cover 13 of the stutfing boxmlS, 13 13 thereis interposed a helical spring 15. Besides, the projecting endof thepiston rod 3 with the headl: the spring 15 is protected by the screw cap16.

The operation is as follows: When the fountain pen is to be filled thecap 16. is screwed off, so asto expose the head'l l. By catching hold ofthis head :the piston rod 3 be pulled out. The consequence is that theunderface of the piston 2 contacts with thestop 8 without closingtheopening 9 of the piston, as may be gathered from Fig. 5. The air behindthe piston therefore can freely escape. \Vhen then the piston comes tothe end of its stroke it will be pushed back into the fountain pen.Owing tothe resistance of the air the piston 2 will be moved upwardly,and will bear against the washer head 14: is diminished the spring 15below the head will press-the piston rod to a slight extent out of thefountain pen shortly before the piston arrives at the lower end of itsstroke, so that, the piston 2 being held by friction against the innerwall of the fountain, the annular, flange 10 separates from the washerl. When the holder is dipped into-the ink before the pressure onthe'head 14 relaxes the ink will, immediately the contact between theflange 10 and the washer at isbroken, be sucked behind the piston by wayof the passage 9, which still is not closed by the stop 8. This actionwill take place quite suddenly. Contrary to other known fountain pensoperatin in similar manner, it is not necessary to dip the pen into theink before the pressure'on the head 14 is released, because a perfectclose joint is guaranteed between the members 4 and 10. The dangero'fink squirting out at the end of the fountain penon pulling out thepiston as is necessary for preparing the filling 1S obviated, becauseduring this step of operation the passage in the piston is continuouslyopen.

The application of the leather collar 11 is important. Leather collarsor cork-pistonsare known per se. Both, however, have the disadvantage,that, being solid bodies, they become brittleand dry up by the action ofthe ink. This inconvenience is removed in the present instance byallowing the leather to project beyond the piston proper, and thereforeit does not constitute a solid body. The rim of the leather collarproecting beyond the face of the piston is preferably bevelled. This hasmoreover the advantage that the collar in the downward movement of thepiston expands, thus adhering closely to the wall of the fountain andimproving on the vacuum. At the same time the piston will be firmly heldin. its end position, and the shifting of the piston rod is facilitated.In drawing the piston backwards a soft or easy sliding is guarant-eed,since the collar in the sucking di rection will cling to the'surfacemore easily. Besides, it secures an absolute correct operation of thefountain pen, since even on a not perfectly round bore it will snuglyslip along ruggednesses and thus always form a good fit.

F ig. 6 shows a modified construction of the fountain pen shown in Figs.1 to 5. It may happen that the pen cannot be fully emptied by writing,and that freqnently even the complete amount of ink behind the piston isheld back without running to the nib. The reason of this is that theink, owing to adhesive power clinging to the inner parts of the fountainpen and oi'ving to its surface tension, is prevented to flow through thepassages and openings in the piston. This drawback is overcome in theconstruction shown in Fig. 6 by air passage being provided separatelyfrom tr e ink passages prop 'lhese air passages allow the escape of theair from the front to the back of the piston in the position the pistonhas during writing.

This object in view the prolongation (3 of the piston rod has a centralbore 17, the mouth of which is on the front side of the piston 72, andwhich is in connection with the space behind the piston by passages 18.In moving the piston inwardly these passages 18 are inoperative as longas the packing members it and 10 contact with one another, so that avacuum can be created behind the piston. The operation. of this aircommunication can be assisted by a tube 19 leading up into the bore 1'?and preferably cut obliquely at its end, to prevent ink adheringthereto, this tube being in communication with the feeding groove 21. ofthe ink conduit 22 by the channel 20. The horizontal position and thesmall dimensions of the passages 18 prevent the ink from entering thebore 17 and the tube 19 in the writing position of the fountain pen.-

ils may be gathered from Fig. 7 the prolongation 6 of the piston rod 3instead of making use of the passages 18 may be pro-- vided with doubleslots 23 along the whole length of the inner bore 17 at the same timearranging an ai feeding tube 19.

In this construction the air ways are advantageously increased.

I claim: I

1. An automatically filling fountain pen comprisin barrel, a piston inthe barrel provided. with a longitudinal passage, a piston rod havingstops between which the piston is adapted to slide longitudinally onsaid piston rod, one stop being constructed to close said passage in thepiston and the other stop to clear said passage when contacting with thepiston, and a spring engaging the piston rod and tensioned on the latterbeing pushed inwardly, so as to automatically move it outwardly again,when the pressure is reduced.

2. An automatically filling fountain pen comprising a barred, a pistonin the barrel provided with a longitudinal passage for ink, a piston rodhaving stops between which the piston is adapted to slide longitudinallyon said piston rod, one stop being constructed to close said passage inthe piston and the other stop to clear said passage when contacting withthe piston, and a special air passage adapted to allow air accumulated Iin front of the piston during writing to escape behind the piston.

3. An automatically filling fountain pen comprising a barrel, a pistonin the barrel provided with a longitudinal passage for ink, a piston rodhaving stops between which the piston is adapted to slide longitudinallyon said piston rod, one stop being constructed to close said passage inthe piston and the other stop to clear said passage when contacting withthe piston, a bore in that part of the piston rod on which the piston isslidable opening out at the front of the piston and communicating withthe space behind the piston by a passage.

4. An automatically filling fountain pen comprising a barrel, a pistonin the barrel provided with a longitudinal passage for ink, a piston rodhaving stops between which the piston is adapted to slide longitudinallyon said piston rod, one stop being constructed to close said passage inthe piston and the other stop to clear said passage when contacting withthe piston, a bore in that part of the piston rod on which the piston isslidable opening out at the front of the piston and communicating withthe space behind the piston by a passage, a tube projecting into saidbore of the piston rod and connected by grooves with the ink conduit.

5. An automatically filling-fountain pen comprising a barrel, a pistonin the barrel provided with a longitudinal passage for ink, a piston rodhaving stops between which the piston is adapted to slide longitudinallyon said piston rod, one stop being constructed to close said passage inthe pistonand the other stop to clear said passage when contacting withthe piston, a bore in that part of the piston rod on which the piston isslidable opening out at the front of the piston and communicating withthe space behind the piston by a passage, a tube projecting into saidbore of the piston rod and connected by across channel and alongitudinal groove with the ink conduit.

6. An automatically filling fountain pen comprising a barrel, a pistonin the'barrel provided with a, longitudinal passage for ink, a pistonrod having stops between which the piston is adapted to slidelongitudinally on said piston rod, one stop being constructed to closesaid passage on the piston and the other stop toclear said passage whencontacting with. the piston, a bore in that part of the piston rod onwhich the piston is slidable opening out at the front of the piston andcommunicating with the space hehind the piston by a slot in the pistonrod at the inner part of the said bore.

ERNST RICHARD GUSTAV ALBERT R6SLER.

